Psalms 75:4-5

75:4 ¹ I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”

and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory! ² 

75:5 Do not be so certain you have won! ³ 

Do not speak with your head held so high! ⁴ 

Psalms 93:3

93:3 The waves ⁵  roar, O Lord,

the waves roar,

the waves roar and crash. ⁶ 

Isaiah 37:23

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ⁷ 

At the Holy One of Israel! ⁸ 

Daniel 5:20-23

5:20 And when his mind ⁹  became arrogant ¹⁰  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him. 5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ¹¹  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ¹²  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

5:22 “But you, his son ¹³  Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, ¹⁴  although you knew all this. 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹⁵  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ¹⁶  your very breath and all your ways!

[75:4]  ¹ tn The identity of the speaker in vv. 4-6 is unclear. The present translation assumes that the psalmist, who also speaks in vv. 7-9 (where God/the Lord is spoken of in the third person) here addresses the proud and warns them of God’s judgment. The presence of כִּי (ki, “for”) at the beginning of both vv. 6-7 seems to indicate that vv. 4-9 are a unit. However, there is no formal indication of a new speaker in v. 4 (or in v. 10, where God appears to speak). Another option is to see God speaking in vv. 2-6 and v. 10 and to take only vv. 7-9 as the words of the psalmist. In this case one must interpret כִּי at the beginning of v. 7 in an asseverative or emphatic sense (“surely; indeed”).

[75:4]  ² tn Heb “do not lift up a horn.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Here the idiom seems to refer to an arrogant attitude that assumes victory has been achieved.

[75:5]  ³ tn Heb “do not lift up on high your horn.”

[75:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “[do not] speak with unrestrained neck.” The negative particle is understood in this line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[93:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).

[93:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the waves lift up, O Lord, the waves lift up their voice, the waves lift up their crashing.”

[37:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

[37:23]  ⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[5:20]  ⁹ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:20]  ¹⁰ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

[5:21]  ¹¹ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:21]  ¹² tn Aram “his dwelling.”

[5:22]  ¹³ tn Or “descendant”; or “successor.”

[5:22]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “your heart.”

[5:23]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”